Apple must really feel the competition heating up, because Phil Schiller just can't say enough about Android these days. In an interview with Reuters on Wednesday, Schiller -- Apple's senior vice president of worldwide marketing -- said that most Android users are running old software because updates are slow to roll out.

"With their own data, only 16 percent of Android users are on year-old version of the operating system," Schiller said. "Over 50 percent are still on software that is two years old. A really big difference."

It's important to note that each Android OS update needs to be tested for several different hardware makers to make sure it's right for each one.

Further, Schiller trash talked the new Samsung Galaxy S IV, saying that it will be shipped with a year-old operating system because Android has a fragmentation issue.

"And that extends to the news we are hearing this week that the Samsung Galaxy S4 is being rumored to ship with an OS that is nearly a year old," Schiller said. "Customers will have to wait to get an update."

Android version install base as of March 4, 2013 [Image Source: Android.com]

"At Apple we know that it's not just enough to have products pumped out in large numbers," Schiller said. "You have to love and use them. There is a lot of data showing a big disparity there."

Schiller was bad-mouthing Android earlier this week in an interview with The Wall Street Journal, where he said that iPhone users are more satisfied with their smartphone experience than Android users and that Androids are the kinds of phones given as free replacements to feature phones. He added that Android phones make you "sign up for nine accounts" out of the box because it isn't as seamless of an experience as iOS -- where Apple is responsible for both hardware and software.

Apple's Phil Schiller posing with an iPad mini

It's interesting that Apple is starting to dig into Samsung and Android right around the release of the Samsung Galaxy S IV, which is due to make its first appearance today at the 7 p.m. ET launch event at Radio City Music Hall in Manhattan. The Samsung Galaxy S III made a big splash in the smartphone world, and the greater specs of the Galaxy S IV should mean increased popularity of the line.

So the marketing VP does what marketing people do. Try to convince people that they are better than the competition. Try to steal attention from a product release. Of course Apple wants to steal attention. They have an inferior product that doesn't make it on its own merits anymore. They need hype and loyalists.

but do we really need 2 separate articles on this?

Article 1. The marketing guy is doing his job.Article 2. The marketing guy is STILL doing his job.

In what way is Gingerbread more feature-rich when ICS is still not completely caught up? Security, user interface, performance, battery life, applications, 2.3 is second rate garbage in every single way. Every single move Google has made has been to shore up its deficiencies (project butter, improving security, etc).

Android has been rapidly improving simply because it was released in a much poorer state than iOS, Windows Phone, or WebOS.

Even retrospooty calls Android trash until ICS dropped. JB is the only Android version I can call remotely close to iOS, but unfortunately fragmentation (that big bad word) is getting in the way of developers being able to fully take advantage of the platform. Its hard when the majority of your userbase is on an old and broken OS, could you imagine if Windows developers still had to support Win98?

The best thing that can happen for Android is one of two things, either 2.x devices getting replaced over time, or companies finally supporting upgrades on hardware. The first will hold back the platform for years while we wait for JB+ devices to finally take over, especially since brand new phones are still being sold with 2.3. The second is unfortunately unlikely unless you install your own ROMs or get a Nexus device.

Again, I really wish Google had more control over Android. Their improvements with the OS mean less and less when companies have things like TouchWiz/Sense or when they're still releasing outdated operating systems on brand new hardware.

I understand that you're on a Gingerbread device, and that's fine, but don't defend your possessions by pretending that you weren't stuck years behind the curve even when it was brand new.

Dont involve me with your FUD. 2.x was laggy, and just plain ugly and had other limitations, but what Reclaimer said was it was more "feature rich" and he was correct. There are just too many things IOS doesnt do for a high end phone.

Now Android has added even more features so my list you love so much has grown. Here it is again... Enjoy ;)

Retro I'm not even responding to him at this point. I don't know about you, but I'm really tired of making the same huge list of features iOS is missing that Android has had since day one, only to have him repeat the same FUD and out of date talking points.

Also he seems really confused about the difference between hardware and the OS. Listing things like "battery life" as an iOS advantage, when battery life is almost entirely decided by screen size, not OS "efficiency".

I dont mind. I'll post my list for no other reason than to piss him off at this point LOL. It's a hell of a long and undeniable list with alot of recent additions. I just love to see that list and hear ridiculous responses like "none of those things matter" or "So what if its missing a dozen different things that all modern smartphones should have, IOS users browse the web more" LOL... Hilarious.

I'm glad you like your Android, but I think many items are your list should be classified as features, not advantages. Also, in my personal experience, many are also double edged swords.

For example, the larger screen on my Galaxy SII made it difficult to use with one hand, and also a sub standard battery life.

The Micro SD could be seen as an advantage, or a disadvantage if compared to the out of the box storage that comes with each iPhone. I've never needed more than 16GB of memory on my phone though.

I've owned both, and I am not sure I can agree that the UI is more pretty, slick or responsive. iOS apps are closely scrutinized line by line by high level developers while Android Market is so wide open key loggers have made their way onto it.

quote: Also he seems really confused about the difference between hardware and the OS. Listing things like "battery life" as an iOS advantage, when battery life is almost entirely decided by screen size, not OS "efficiency".

It has everything to do with efficiency and superior engineering.

A smaller chassis and screen means a MUCH smaller battery. The number of LEDs has an insignificant effect on power drain compared to the SoC, antennas, and having the OS optimized for specific hardware.

You're telling me that a much smaller battery yielding double the LTE and wifi time, something that has everything to do with better antennas and more power efficient LTE chips, is because of a smaller screen?

Like, if we're going point by point then let's look at Android's disadvantages:

- Inferior quality and selection of applications and poor developer support- Inferior UI- Choppy/laggy UI performance even with the best hardware running the latest OS- In the case of Samsung, terrible displays in a flimsy package- Poor long term support from hardware companies and carriers to encourage more frequent turnover- Poor security- Malware

Other things like "giant iBezel" is also a lie. After you made comment of that I compared an iPhone 5's bezel against a GS3 and it is about half the thickness from the edge of the screen to the edge of the device.

All the other things you mention (removable batteries, MicroSD card) are the side effects of having a big chassis. Not everyone wants a big phone, but not everyone wears a belt holster, wears fat-man pants, or carries a purse. Things like HDMI (in a PHONE) are going away in even the highest end Android devices. You don't need your mobile device with amazing wireless technology tethered by an HDMI cable when technologies like AirPlay and Miraplay are getting so popular. Other things like Photo Sphere and even bumping to exchange info or pictures have been available in iOS apps since 2009.

iOS from four years ago says hello, how are you doing?

If you don't care about a polished device with better hardware, better applications, support that extends past a year, and better battery life, then cool, great, fine, but your preferences aren't objective advantages for everyone.

The things you mentioned either don't exist as tradeoffs (photo sphere, bumping) or aren't worth the trade for things that really matter. Losing or downgrading useful specialized and exclusive apps, downgrading the display (at least with Samsung), cutting battery life in half, and downgrading to a choppy laggy interface just so I can plug in an SD card (something other companies are also dropping), meh.

Nope, also on iOS! The best version of Google Maps is currently the one on iOS. Shame that Google's mobile team generally releases their apps on iOS first before updating the Android version, but of course Google makes more money and mines more valuable data from iOS users so its still clearly a higher priority. It'll catch up on Android though. ;)

Another funny thing, PC Magazine just did a comparison after six months and iOS Maps improved so much that it beat Google Maps in most everything except for public transportation. It makes sense since Apple fired the original team and has been fixing things ever since, TomTom has been lending more support, etc.

I haven't compared them myself. Both iOS and Google Maps work great for me and I really don't care, I like them both.

And yes, fragmentation matters. Again, a quote from id, a company that has made millions developing for iOS, with a sentiment shared by every other major and minor developer out there.

quote: For gaming, Android's hardware diversity is a curse, not a blessing. Let's say you have 200 potential devices to support (as a rough example). Of those, only 20 can actually run games at a level you'd be comfortable with. That remaining 20 has 2-3 display resolutions and graphics architectures to support, and only that same amount of phones has enough users to justify development -- but that combined group ends up being considerably smaller than the iOS group you could reach. You end up either giving up sales or building for the lowest common denominator.

iOS may have limited selection, but it's much, much, much easier to develop knowing that you'll hit a big swath of users -- including much larger media player and tablet audiences. You can also optimize your code much more effectively. Knowing that fewer people will steal your game just makes it that much easier to justify supporting iOS first or exclusively.